Situations often call for a tool for cutting a ring in order to remove it from a finger. For example, under emergency circumstances, where a finger is swollen, inflamed, or otherwise injured, a tool is necessary to cut the ring so that it can be spread open and removed from the finger. Even non-emergency situations require such a tool.
While a simple saw could accomplish this task, such a crude method would be slow and awkward and would pose an obvious danger to the finger and hand. Other relatively unrefined tools that have been designed to accomplish this task have disadvantages because they exert undue pressure on an already injured finger or they create heat which is dissipated through the ring, thereby causing greater discomfort on the finger.